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Krista's Guide to Meal Planning

Farm girl turned city girl turned suburban mom. My degree is in Family and Consumer Science Education...that's "home ec" to the old school crowd. While I've spent a good deal of time as both a student and a teacher exploring the ins and outs of food and nutrition, baking, and meal planning, I credit countless hours in the kitchen with my mom and 10 years of 4-H with providing the foundation for my knowledge of all things food and my love of cooking.

In Case You Don't Have One Yet: My Go-To Cookbook

All of the basics and then some...

I'm all about the crock pot dinner!

Meet the Mother of all Fix-it-and-Forget-It Cookbooks!

Today's Post Featured Product!

Here's What I'm Cooking With....

The Anolon Professional Hard Anodized Nonstick 12-Piece Cookware Set. After 2 years of putting this set to the test EVERY DAY, it is holding up beautifully!
If you're in the market for new cookware...this is a great value! Right now it's marked down from $803.00 to $179.99. WOW!

Committed to Your Resolutions? Here's some Food For Thought:

They've got a Family Biggest Loser Cookbook too...with "budget-friendly meals your whole family will love".
No fuss healthy recipes!
The food DOES matter!
Why do it alone? A life-style change for your whole family!
This one is tried and true in my kitchen. Great ideas!

My Two Favorite at Home Workouts

Each workout is just 10 minutes and you can choose any combination: abs, legs, buns, arms, or all 4. As a busy mom, this has been my go-to workout for the past 5 years!
Love her or hate her, Jillian knows her stuff when it comes to exercise. This does just what it claims... attacks the "trouble zones". Ouch! But it works.

Friday, April 16, 2010

This the was the perfect Friday night dinner! It was super quick and easy to make and completely satisfied my Mexican food craving. I tore this recipe out of the February 2008 issue of Better Homes and Gardens and I have just now gotten around to making it. I wonder what other little gems are just waiting to surprise me in my "Try This" file. I can't even remember if I tore out the page for this pizza recipe. I think that I was interested in a bean soup recipe on the same page. What luck!

As the name of the recipe indicates, you need chorizo for this pizza. Chorizo is a type of sausage. You can purchase Portuguese or Spanish chorizo. However, for this recipe, I used a fresh chorizo from our neighbors to the South...Mexico. Mexican chorizo is very similar to the American sausage that you're probably accustomed to, the spices are just different. This particular chorizo presented in the form of big sausages, like bratwurst. I removed the casing from 1 and 1/2 sausages and fried them in a skillet, breaking the pieces up as they cooked. I drained mine on paper towel before adding it to my pizza.

Next the recipe called for deli-fresh salsa with corn and beans. I wasn't about to purchase "deli-fresh" salsa when I have perfectly good home-canned salsa in my pantry. Corn and black beans both happen to be staples in this house, so I added corn and black beans to my home-canned salsa and then heated the mixture in the skillet that I used to brown the chorizo. Less dishes!

Now spray a baking sheet with a little non stick cooking spray before laying down your flour tortilla shells. Top with shredded cheese; Mexican blend, Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Colby Jack...whatever you prefer. Pop them under your pre-heated oven broiler for a bit to melt the cheese and crisp up the edges of the tortillas.

Now top your "pizzas". I spread around the warmed salsa and then sprinkled on some chorizo.

Then, I shaved some Cojita cheese over the top. I popped this back under the broiler for a minute or two to let the Cojita melt a little.

Top the pizzas with green onion and chopped cilantro. Avocado would have been perfect here too...but I ate my last avocado in leftover Taco Soup this week. Oops. Garnish with lime slices. A little lime squeezed over the top of this really brightens it up! Delicious!

If you're thinking, "This looks great to me, but there's no way my picky kid (or spouse) will eat that." You're probably correct. But I bet that they'd eat a cheese quesadilla. After you sprinkle on the cheese and broil, just fold the tortilla in half.

I sliced the quesadillas and served them up with the extra corn that didn't make it's way into the "pizza sauce". Everyone ate. No one complained. My craving was satisfied. Ahhhh. It was a good Friday night.

Directions1. Preheat broiler. In large skillet crumble and cook chorizo over medium heat until no pink remains. Drain in colander. In small saucepan heat salsa over medium heat until heated through.

2. Lightly coat large baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange tortillas, two at time, on baking sheet; top each with one-fourth the cheese. Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat 2 to 3 minutes, until cheese is melted. Top each pizza with one-fourth the warm salsa, cooked chorizo, and sliced cojita. Return to the broiler until the cojita just starts to melt.

Both myself and my husband LOVE chorizo (Mexican and Spanish). I love that you used it for pizza - delicious! And, this is a great recipe because it's so easy to make cheese quesadillas for the kids and make everyone happy.